Explaining HTML report deployment: from development to production

October 24, 2013 by Igor Lozhkin

Reports, report sources, report templates and other components developed with Arnica WebReport have their metadata stored in its own database. To deploy developed components to other environments (for example from development to QA, from QA to production), there are no individual run-time report component files to be moved from one environment to another. Instead, developed components' metadata should be moved from one database (for example, DEV) to another (for example, PROD).

There are two primary methods for component deployment:

Backup WebReport database in DEV and restore it to PROD instance. This method works well for smaller projects, when it is possible to ensure that all reports in DEV are stable, tested and ready for deployment at the same time.

Export individual report components from DEV, and import to PROD. This method is best for larger projects where there are many reports in DEV and only some are ready for PROD deployment.

The second option, in more detail, involves the following steps:

Access Export tool from WebReport Administrator in DEV

Select reports to export, and export all of them into one or more export files (with extension aaEEF - Arnica Entity Exchange Format)

Access Import tool from WebReport Administrator in PROD

Select the export file produced in step #2, and proceed with the import. Repeat for each exported file

This method of exporting/importing of individual reports assumes that the staging location, where the export files are saved in DEV and read in PROD, is the same.

If the staging locations are different, the the export file needs to be downloaded from DEV staging (after export), and then uploaded to PROD staging (before import).

Full list of steps when staging locations between DEV and PROD are different is the following:

Access Export tool from WebReport Administrator in DEV

Select reports to export, and export all of them into one or more export files

Access Download File tool from WebReport Administrator in DEV, select exported file and proceed with download. As a result, the file will be in browser download cache. Repeat for each export file (if multiple export files were produced)

Using the same browser (but different tab or window), access Upload File tool from WebReport Administrator in PROD, select downloaded export file (from browser download cache) and proceed with upload. As a result, the file will be in staging location in PROD. Repeat for each export file (if multiple export files were produced).

Access Import tool from WebReport Administrator in PROD

Select the export file produced in step #2, and proceed with the import. Repeat for each export file (if multiple export files were produced).